70s

The Seventies

In 1970 Diane von Furstenberg arrived in New York with suitcase full of jersey dresses that she had made at her friend Angelo Ferretti’s factory in Italy. Encouraged by Vogue editor Diana Vreeland, Diane began to make her everlasting imprint on the fashion world.

In 1974 she created the wrap dress, which launched a liberating style movement for women around the globe. By 1976 she had sold over a million of her signature dresses and landed on the cover of The Wall Street Journal and Newsweek, the latter dubbing her “the most marketable woman since Coco Chanel.”

Coinciding with this newfound fame was Diane’s expanded business. Through numerous licensing partnerships, the woman who arrived with 12 jersey shirtdresses in a suitcase a few years earlier had evolved into a tycoon with a full lifestyle brand including luggage, scarves, eyewear, home and, eventually, beauty. Central to these new developments was Diane’s first fragrance, Tatiana, named after her young daughter, with the tagline “For a woman to love and a man to remember.” It was an instant hit.

Delving further into the beauty realm in 1979, Diane decided to continue to focus on building her in-house cosmetics line. Eager to share what she had learned, she wrote Diane von Furstenberg’s Book of Beauty: How to Become a More Attractive, Confident and Sensual Woman. Diane then toured the United States, meeting her customers face-to-face, introducing her line of cosmetics and sharing her beauty secrets.